James Bovard

Freedom to vote is valuable primarily as a means to safeguard other freedoms.

The more that voting is glorified as a panacea, the more lackadaisical people become about preserving their constitutional rights.

Trumpeting the importance of voting deludes people into thinking that they have a leash on the government.

Well, one of the first things is to restore the rule of law, to place the government back under the cage of law. Another thing is to stop falling for the myth of democracy.

The Federal Government is exploiting public fear to redefine the relationship between the rulers and the American people.

Some politicians are aware of the Bill of Rights. It seems that the opposition party is far more likely to invoke it, to wave it in the air, this is what we saw from a lot of republicans during the Clinton Administration, and we are seeing the same from Democrats under Bush.

Some of the folks on both sides might be sincere, but it does seem as if it is only the opposition that cares about the Bill of Rights most of the time.

Politicians as a class are dangerous, that people who are seeking power over us are not, by definition, our friends.

It is unfortunate that Americans are no longer aware of what the constitution says and what their rights are. Because of that, we are often very passive about what happens when the government violates those rights.

It is one of the great tragedies of the US, that most learn most of what they know about the government from the government.

It is important to recognize and politics positive thinking is often the slaves' virtue - something that people do to con themselves about the burden and change being placed upon them.

If so many Americans are looking for the government to save them, then it is hard to have a dignified search for a shepherd in chief.

How many McDonald's gift certificates would it take to sway a lot of Americans to pledge to never publicly criticize the U.S, President?

Entire generations of Americans have come of age since the ancient time when the president's power was constrained by a duty of candor to the American people.

This is a case if the President is permitted to be above the law, then we no longer have a republic.

With attention deficit democracy, I am trying to wake up people to how the combination of mass ignorance, fear mongering by the government, and lying politicians is putting our entire system of government to a death spiral.

This stuff on enemy combatants, the Bush Administration has fought like a tiger to avoid having to produce any evidence to a judge to show why somebody is locked up in perpetuity. Another example of that is the torture scandal.

There has been so much power concentrated. There is no leash on that power anymore and Americans face the situation that this power is getting momentum with each passing year with each presidency.

There are a lot of benefits representative of government and it is far better than any type of dictatorial system and it is far better than a one-man rule situation.

It is like we are obliged to assume that the government is only doing what it says it is doing.